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Benjani fires ZIFA warning over coach
By Sports
Reporter
WARRIORS skipper Benjani Mwaruwari warned the Zimbabwe FA to appoint
a substantive coach and begin preparations for the 2010 World Cup in
earnest after they were pooled with Kenya, Namibia and Guinea in the
draw on Sunday.
Despite being drawn with fairly light-weight teams, Mwaruwari, who plays for Portsmouth in England, said there were no easy games in African football.
“People will look at that draw and say it’s easy,” Mwaruwari said on Tuesday. “But there are no easy games in African football anymore. People should remember how we lost to Malawi (1-0) in the African Cup of Nations group stages, a game which on paper we were fancied to win. We had the wrong approach and wrong attitude.”
Zimbabwe has been without a coach since Charles Mhlauri was sacked as the country’s African Cup of Nations qualification bid faltered. Norman Mapeza, a former captain, is currently the care-taker coach.
Mwaruwari said: “We need to prepare properly. During the Africa Cup of Nations campaign, we were on holiday when other teams were playing friendlies with major teams.
“We were a team of strangers in Malawi, because we had not played with each other in NINE months. If we do that again, we won’t qualify. We need to do something immediately.
“The new coach must be given everything he requires. ZIFA have not consulted me on the new coach, I guess they don’t have to. But whoever it is, he needs every available resource. The team needs to know each other…even boozers play every Sunday, yet we go for months without playing together.”
The Warriors must do well against the Harambee Stars of Kenya, the Brave Warriors of Namibia and Guinea if they are entertaining any hopes of going into the hat again for the second round draw of Africa’s best 20 teams.
It is from that second round of qualifiers that each of the five group winners would qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
While all the other three teams have coaches, Zimbabwe do not have any in place and for the draw in Durban, South Africa on Sunday, they sent officials-ZIFA chairman Wellington Nyatanga, beleaguered chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya and Premier Soccer League boss Tapiwa Matangaidze, who is in charge of the marketing committee.
Tendai Madzorera, the ZIFA vice chairman in charge of national teams admitted the football association was struggling to lure a good coach because of financial problems.
He said: “It is a fair draw for us, unfortunately, we would have wanted to have a coach in place before the draw, but things did not work out according to plan.
“We do not have the finances to get a foreign coach, it is the duty of the government to get the resources for us to get a high level coach to take us to South Africa.”
Gibson Homela, a former Zimbabwe coach, said the other countries have a head start ahead of 24th ranked Zimbabwe.
Homela warned: “On
paper, it looks easy, but the bottom line is that there are
no signs from our camp that we are ready for the games next year. Guinea
and Namibia have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations, meaning they
will be well ahead in terms of preparations by February.
“Any other serious team will try to organise friendlies with teams that have been to the AFCON and not those who failed to go to Ghana.
“It could have been better for us if we had a coach at the draw to make immediate contacts about friendly matches.”
Moses Chunga, former Warriors striker, said: “Zimbabwe needs to have a coach in place, tirikutamba (we are joking). We have failed to qualify for Ghana and we then take a year to appoint another coach, people must get serious.
“Who would want to play a team without a coach? It really shows we do not belong to such competitions, but just COSAFA.”
Ndumiso Gumede, former ZIFA CEO said it was a “good draw”.
He added: “I think the whole problem has been lack of innovativeness from the ZIFA board, leaving too many of their decisions to the government. The government cannot run football, they have other problems, so ZIFA must work with the corporate world.
“They must give the corporate world room to believe they are a better organised association, able to run the game professionally without interference from politicians.”
Zimbabwe is said to have discussed a government-to-government deal with Brazil for a top Brazilian coach to take charge of the Warriors.
AFRICAN TEAMS DRAW FOR 2010 WORLD CUP:
South Africa as hosts are already qualified
Group 1-Cameroon,
Cape Verde Islands, Tanzania,
Mauritius
Group 2-Guinea, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Kenya
Group 3-Angola, Benin, Uganda, Niger
Group 4-Nigeria,
South Africa (For African Nations
qualifiers only), Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone
Group 5-Ghana, Libya, Gabon, Lesotho
Group 6-Senegal, Algeria, Liberia, Gambia
Group 7-Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Botswana, Madagascar
Group 8-Morocco, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mauritania
Group 9-Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Seychelles
Group 10-Mali, Congo, Sudan, Chad
Group 11-Togo, Zambia, Eritrea, Swaziland
Group 12-Egypt, DR Congo, Malawi, Djibouti
The
12 group winners and the eight best runners-up will contest the next
stage in the qualification process.
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